There go the playoffs

The Bears needed more Sunday.

More offense. More luck. More guys off the street to play for this depleted defense. More of anything that would help them beat Minnesota and keep them tied for first in the NFC North.

So much for that.

Instead of taking advantage of a lousy Minnesota team, the Bears lost 23-20 in a game that defied belief.

The Bears blew a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter, which was bad enough. To make matters worse, the sure-footed Robbie Gould missed a 47-yard field goal that would have ended the game in overtime. The Vikings' Blair Walsh then ended it with a 34-yard boot with 1:43 left in the extra period.

"It was in my range. I make that kick a lot. I've just got to step up and make it," said Gould, whose wife had a baby boy less than 24 hours earlier. "That game could have cost us the playoffs and that's on my shoulders."

Maybe, maybe not. No doubt there's blame to go around.

For example, why did coach Marc Trestman choose to attempt such a long field goal when it was only second down?

"I didn't want to ... risk a possible penalty that would set us back, something similar to what happened on the other side, or a fumble or something unique," Trestman said. "I felt that we were clearly in range, and we could get the game over at that time."

As it stands, the Bears are ninth in the NFC. To climb into the top six and make the playoffs, in the final four weeks they must leapfrog at least three teams with better records-all of which are playing better than they are.

Regardless of how the season plays out, Bears fans probably will see Jay Cutler next week. The starting quarterback has said he hopes to return for the Dec. 9 game against Dallas.

Will that be the spark they need? We'll see. For now, we know the Bears need more of certain things and less of others.

Chicago Tribune contributed to this report.

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